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Jamestown: the settlement's hidden history is threatened by climate change Jamestown: the settlement's hidden history is threatened by climate change
(about 5 hours later)
At the long-lost site of the first surviving English colony in the Americas, amid the remnants of invasion and war – of belief, slavery and murder; cannibalism, drugs and political intrigue – there is a silver box. The box is tiny, just over two and a quarter by one and a quarter inches at its largest point, with hexagonal sides. It is so deeply corroded after having been buried for four centuries in a church grave that the archeologists who found it are afraid to open it, for fear the whole thing might disintegrate in their hands. Yet what is inside that fragile case could help unravel the mysteries that still shroud this place.At the long-lost site of the first surviving English colony in the Americas, amid the remnants of invasion and war – of belief, slavery and murder; cannibalism, drugs and political intrigue – there is a silver box. The box is tiny, just over two and a quarter by one and a quarter inches at its largest point, with hexagonal sides. It is so deeply corroded after having been buried for four centuries in a church grave that the archeologists who found it are afraid to open it, for fear the whole thing might disintegrate in their hands. Yet what is inside that fragile case could help unravel the mysteries that still shroud this place.
Four hundred and eight years after settlers took over an island they called Jamestown, 35 miles from Chesapeake Bay up a brackish river they named for the same English king, the former colony’s name is familiar to anyone who sat through a social studies or history class in an American school. It was, after all, the beachhead of English colonization in the Americas – the place where the histories of both the global British empire and the United States can be said to have begun.Four hundred and eight years after settlers took over an island they called Jamestown, 35 miles from Chesapeake Bay up a brackish river they named for the same English king, the former colony’s name is familiar to anyone who sat through a social studies or history class in an American school. It was, after all, the beachhead of English colonization in the Americas – the place where the histories of both the global British empire and the United States can be said to have begun.
But some of the harder truths about Jamestown are much less widely known: the wars of extermination against the native Powhatan tribes, its twin legacies of representative government and African servitude, or its place in the sprawling political conflicts of its time between Europe’s rival Catholic and Protestant empires.But some of the harder truths about Jamestown are much less widely known: the wars of extermination against the native Powhatan tribes, its twin legacies of representative government and African servitude, or its place in the sprawling political conflicts of its time between Europe’s rival Catholic and Protestant empires.
That is in part because much of that history is still hidden from today’s historians, archeologists and scientists as well. It wasn’t until 1996 that modern scholars uncovered the original 1607 James Fort, long thought to have been lost to erosion. In the less than two decades since, teams have been racing to uncover all they can before rising sea levels and the acidic soil destroy what’s left.That is in part because much of that history is still hidden from today’s historians, archeologists and scientists as well. It wasn’t until 1996 that modern scholars uncovered the original 1607 James Fort, long thought to have been lost to erosion. In the less than two decades since, teams have been racing to uncover all they can before rising sea levels and the acidic soil destroy what’s left.
“As we are looking forward to the mid-century 21st century, there will be significant areas of Jamestown island under water,” said Dr James Horn, the University of Sussex-trained president of Jamestown Rediscovery and an author whose upcoming book will trace the colony’s role in the origins of American society. “There’s always a race against time, but there’s a greater urgency in the case of Jamestown because of climate change.”“As we are looking forward to the mid-century 21st century, there will be significant areas of Jamestown island under water,” said Dr James Horn, the University of Sussex-trained president of Jamestown Rediscovery and an author whose upcoming book will trace the colony’s role in the origins of American society. “There’s always a race against time, but there’s a greater urgency in the case of Jamestown because of climate change.”
Some of the most revealing finds have come in the past few months. In late July, researchers from Jamestown Rediscovery and the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History announced that they had determined the identities of four men buried in the colony’s original church – early leaders of the settlement who helped ensure its survival in a dark and uncertain time. They were Captain Gabriel Archer, an early magistrate of the colony who arrived on the first expedition from England; Robert Hunt, an Anglican minister; and Sir Ferdinando Wainman and Captain William West, relatives of a later colonial governor.Some of the most revealing finds have come in the past few months. In late July, researchers from Jamestown Rediscovery and the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History announced that they had determined the identities of four men buried in the colony’s original church – early leaders of the settlement who helped ensure its survival in a dark and uncertain time. They were Captain Gabriel Archer, an early magistrate of the colony who arrived on the first expedition from England; Robert Hunt, an Anglican minister; and Sir Ferdinando Wainman and Captain William West, relatives of a later colonial governor.
Captain Archer’s grave was of particular interest because of what it contained. Besides the body and coffin: an iron pike from his staff and, most intriguingly, the silver box. To avoid destroying it, the researchers teamed up with technicians from Cornell University, General Electric and Allentown, Pennsylvania-based Micro Photonics Inc to scan the inside using a series of two-dimensional x-rays that were processed through a computer to produce a 3D image. What they saw surprised them: human-looking bones and what appeared to be a broken lead ampulla – a vessel to hold holy water. Most likely it was a holy reliquary, of a kind indicative of Catholic, not Anglican, religious worship. Captain Archer’s grave was of particular interest because of what it contained. Besides the body and coffin: an iron pike from his staff and, most intriguingly, the silver box. To avoid destroying it, the researchers teamed up with technicians from Cornell University, General Electric and Allentown and Pennsylvania-based Micro Photonics Inc to scan the inside using a series of two-dimensional x-rays that were processed through a computer to produce a 3D image. What they saw surprised them: human-looking bones and what appeared to be a broken lead ampulla – a vessel to hold holy water. Most likely it was a holy reliquary, of a kind indicative of Catholic, not Anglican, religious worship.
Combined with other possibly Catholic items found near the site, including rosaries and a carved crucifix, the fact that Captain Archer’s parents were Catholic “rescuants” who had run afoul of Protestant religious laws in England, and the fact that his body was buried with his head to the east – “the traditional orientation of a cleric,” according to the expert – the find posed an intriguing hypothesis: was Captain Archer a secretly practicing Catholic, or even cleric, in the expressly Protestant settlement? If so, what did it mean that he was given such a place of honor – a burial near the altar of the colony’s church, where the first tobacco farmer John Rolfe married Pocahantas – with the supposed reliquary placed carefully by his side?Combined with other possibly Catholic items found near the site, including rosaries and a carved crucifix, the fact that Captain Archer’s parents were Catholic “rescuants” who had run afoul of Protestant religious laws in England, and the fact that his body was buried with his head to the east – “the traditional orientation of a cleric,” according to the expert – the find posed an intriguing hypothesis: was Captain Archer a secretly practicing Catholic, or even cleric, in the expressly Protestant settlement? If so, what did it mean that he was given such a place of honor – a burial near the altar of the colony’s church, where the first tobacco farmer John Rolfe married Pocahantas – with the supposed reliquary placed carefully by his side?
No one knows – not yet, at least. But the answers could reveal much about the early years of the settlement, which was founded as a bulwark against the powerful Catholic Spanish and French empires in the Americas, and fortified itself against their threatened attacks. “It means there could have been a fifth column at work, that could have attempted to undermine the colony from within,” Dr Horn said.No one knows – not yet, at least. But the answers could reveal much about the early years of the settlement, which was founded as a bulwark against the powerful Catholic Spanish and French empires in the Americas, and fortified itself against their threatened attacks. “It means there could have been a fifth column at work, that could have attempted to undermine the colony from within,” Dr Horn said.
Captain Archer died at the beginning of the grimmest period in the history of the early settlement, the winter of 1609-10, in which all but a few dozen of its more than 200 inhabitants died. The crisis, known by historians as the Starving Time, is believed to have come as a result of the settlers’ inability to grow crops and conflict with surrounding tribes that had previously helped them feed themselves, and came amid political upheaval within the colony. It nearly consigned the colony to the fate of the earlier English effort at Roanoke Island, North Carolina, whose settler residents disappeared without a trace sometime before 1590. Other evidence, revealed by research on other skeletons at the site that was released in 2013, has shown that some Jamestown colonists resorted to cannibalism during that period.Captain Archer died at the beginning of the grimmest period in the history of the early settlement, the winter of 1609-10, in which all but a few dozen of its more than 200 inhabitants died. The crisis, known by historians as the Starving Time, is believed to have come as a result of the settlers’ inability to grow crops and conflict with surrounding tribes that had previously helped them feed themselves, and came amid political upheaval within the colony. It nearly consigned the colony to the fate of the earlier English effort at Roanoke Island, North Carolina, whose settler residents disappeared without a trace sometime before 1590. Other evidence, revealed by research on other skeletons at the site that was released in 2013, has shown that some Jamestown colonists resorted to cannibalism during that period.
Of course Jamestown did survive, remaining the capital of the colony of Virginia until 1699, when the seat of government moved to the town of Williamsburg. There is a lot of research that remains to be done there on the native settlements that once surrounded the site and the early tobacco plantations whose addictive stimulant crop fostered the economic boom that ultimately preserved the colony. Historians will be gearing up to mark another significant set of anniversaries there in 2019 – the 400th anniversary of the founding of the House of Burgesses, the first legislative assembly in the colonies that would become the United States; as well as the arrival of the first Africans in the English colonies – kidnapped Angolans re-stolen by English pirates from a Portuguese slave ship and brought to the mouth of the James River.Of course Jamestown did survive, remaining the capital of the colony of Virginia until 1699, when the seat of government moved to the town of Williamsburg. There is a lot of research that remains to be done there on the native settlements that once surrounded the site and the early tobacco plantations whose addictive stimulant crop fostered the economic boom that ultimately preserved the colony. Historians will be gearing up to mark another significant set of anniversaries there in 2019 – the 400th anniversary of the founding of the House of Burgesses, the first legislative assembly in the colonies that would become the United States; as well as the arrival of the first Africans in the English colonies – kidnapped Angolans re-stolen by English pirates from a Portuguese slave ship and brought to the mouth of the James River.